


When Our Stitches Come Undone (We Come Together Like Glue)

by joidianne4eva



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck didn’t remember much when he woke the first time, which was probably because he was drugged up to the gills so that the med team could treat him without actually killing him in the process.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Our Stitches Come Undone (We Come Together Like Glue)

**Author's Note:**

> For peaceful_sands prompt of "Pacific Rim, any, surviving"
> 
> Thanks to Cougars_catnip for the speedy beta.

Chuck didn’t remember much when he woke the first time, which was probably because he was drugged up to the gills so that the med team could treat him without actually killing him in the process. The second time that he opened his eyes things were clearer but not better. His body screamed at him, every ache and pain sending up red flags when all he was trying to do was fucking breathe so Chuck let the darkness drag him back under.

His dreams weren’t any better.

He could still feel the ghost touch of Stacker’s mind as if he was caught in the drift and not lying here like a damn invalid. The sorrow and determination had bled from the Marshal’s mind to his and this time when Chuck opened his eyes he made them stay open even when he noticed that the person at his bedside was the last one he wanted to see. Stacker had given him a second chance and he’d be damned before he wasted it.

Raleigh didn’t say a word though; he just nodded at Chuck and sat there.

Chuck wasn’t sure why Raleigh was here but he wasn’t going to question it either.

Other people came to visit when he’d taught his body to sit up but every word that he heard made him feel worse and sometimes he forced himself to sleep just to escape the looks.

His dad was busy and Chuck knew that that was the only reason why Herc wasn’t hovering like a mother hen. Mako visited but she never stayed and Chuck couldn’t blame her. He’d lived when her father hadn’t and if their positions were changed, he would’ve run far and hard from her too.

Newt and Herman tried to visit but they usually devolved into bickering that got them both kicked out of the med bay which left Raleigh.

“So wanna tell me why you’re hanging around like you’re waiting for me to croak?” Chuck greeted Raleigh when the older man slipped into his room.

Beckett just cocked a brow at him as he settled into his chair. Chuck was calling it _his_ chair because Raleigh was the person who used it the most and the thing had probably conformed to fit the man’s arse by this point.

“Maybe I’m waiting for you to grow a pair and stop hiding out in here,” Raleigh responded as he opened his book, blocking the glare that Chuck had settled on him.

Chuck sniffed and resettled against his pillow because Raleigh was the last person who got to pick at his reaction to living through a fucking nuclear explosion.

A tiny part of Chuck’s mind reminded him that Raleigh was also the only person who knew what it felt like to lose a drift partner like that but the Australian stamped on the thought before it could take root.

He didn’t need Raleigh fucking Beckett, he was fine and as soon as he could walk, he’d be out there, living his life like he wanted to without the threat of the kaiju hanging over his head.

Chuck held firm to his resolve for three weeks, while he was poked and prodded to within an inch of his life. Beckett watched all this gleefully because he clearly had no social life of his own and Chuck hated him a little more every day. To show the level of hate he’d started stealing Beckett’s books and giving them to Max as chew toys. He wasn’t exactly surprised when Max gave them back to Raleigh….betrayed, yes, surprised, not so much because Max was a sweetheart unlike Raleigh who was just a pain in the ass.

“Coming so close to death is like riding the biggest wave you’ve ever seen. You know you’re gonna crash and burn but you keep riding until the last second because that’s human nature,”

Chuck glanced up from the book that he was trying to coax Max to rip into shreds.

“Mate, if that made sense in your head I feel bad for Mako,”

Raleigh just rolled his eyes as he left the room and Chuck resisted the urge to throw the damn book at his head….only because his throwing arm was still in a sling.

“I think it’s harder to live than it is to die,” Raleigh commented the next day and this time Chuck did throw the book at his head.

He wasn’t even the slightest bit sad when Raleigh left him alone, no matter what the on duty nurse claimed.

The next time Raleigh showed up Chuck was waiting for him. “Is this psychobabble supposed to make me feel better or is it because Mako made you come down here?”

Raleigh shrugged as he sat down but didn’t answer until he was leaving.

“I don’t date crazy people and you’re kinda fucked up, Hansen,” he called and it took Chuck a full minute to really register what the man had said. The only thing that kept him on his bed was the knowledge that he couldn’t walk with two broken legs but as soon as he could he was going to kick Raleigh’s ass!

Chuck narrowed his eyes as Raleigh shuffled into his room the next day.

“Look, I don’t wanna hear about how you became Ghandi in the few weeks that I’ve been stuck in here cause I really don’t like you all that much,” he growled and Raleigh glanced at the door like he was going to make a run for it. Hero of the world, Chuck’s ass! “Beckett, I don’t like you but if you don’t get over here and fucking kiss me I’m gonna hate you even more,”

Raleigh paused and eyed him like he was a croc, just waiting for the older pilot to come close enough so he could rip his head off.

“What, like now?”

“No, next year. Yes, now!” Chuck sniped. “And I’m the one with the damn mmph….”

Chuck’s legs and his left hand might have been broken but there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with his right one. He tangled his fingers in the pilot’s hair as Raleigh pressed their lips together, teeth scraping against Chuck’s lower lip and he’d forever deny the sound he made as Raleigh bit down lightly, it wasn’t like Beckett’s ego needed more of a boost.

It wasn’t perfect but when Raleigh pulled back Chuck smirked because he was alive and he’d get Beckett trained up to his calibre soon.

It looked this surviving malarkey wasn’t going to be as bad as he’d thought.

 

 

 


End file.
